Radioactive isotope, any of several species of the same chemical element with different masses whose nuclei are unstable and dissipate excess energy by spontaneously emitting radiation in. Scientists now know that there are three types of radiation—alpha, beta, and gamma. In 1906 henri becquerel, the french physicist who discovered radioactivity,.
Having or producing a powerful and dangerous form of energy (called radiation) As radioisotopes are identical chemically with stable isotopes of the. These radioactive isotopes have proven particularly effective as tracers in certain diagnostic procedures.
In 1899 ernest rutherford found that the radioactive element uranium gave off two different kinds of rays. Radiations from radioactive materials were not immediately recognized as being related to x rays. Radioactive series, any of four independent sets of unstable heavy atomic nuclei that decay through a sequence of alpha and beta decays until a stable nucleus is achieved. The emissions of the most common forms of spontaneous radioactive decay are the alpha (α) particle, the beta (β) particle, the gamma (γ) ray, and the neutrino.